Anyone know how the 1994 ban dealt wtih a death of a grandfathered gun owner?

jimboshooter · Dec 22, 2012

Does anyone know how the old ban dealt with the death of a gun owner that had a grandfathered weapon? Or can someone point in to link with the original law? I wanted to understand this and am having a hard time finding and answer to this question.

fd15k · Dec 22, 2012

They were grandfathering the item (rifle, magazine, etc), not the act of possession. If the item was manufactured before the ban (pre-ban), then it was grandfathered and allowed for sale/ownership.

jimboshooter · Dec 22, 2012

I found the law:

Bill Text - 103rd Congress (1993-1994) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

Thanks for the answer fd15k. I did not own any guns back in 1994 and I am tyring to familarize myself with the old law to understand how any future law might work.

So, if you had one of these weapons that was grandfathered and died, your estate could pass that on to someone who was not prohibited from owning a firearm?

Or you could sell it? And the grandfathering passed to the new owner with the weapon? And the weapon just got super expensive for the buyer.

I guess any new law could be much different than the old law since part of the desire is to reduce the ownership count of these types of weapon by the public.

HKFooey · Dec 22, 2012

fd15k said:
They were grandfathering the item (rifle, magazine, etc), not the act of possession. If the item was manufactured before the ban (pre-ban), then it was grandfathered and allowed for sale/ownership.

Yeah you could buy and sell pre-ban weapons

jimboshooter · Dec 22, 2012

Ah duh, I just finished reading the old law and saw what you said:

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the possession or transfer of any semiautomatic assault weapon otherwise lawfully possessed under Federal law on the date of the enactment of this subsection.

Sorry, I am slow or dense or both.

Stomper · Dec 22, 2012

If you are worried about heirs and inheriting any of your firearms you can put them into a Revocable Trust, just like you can with NFA items. For that matter you can put ANYTHING into a Trust, which can go on into perpetuity with lines of succession that can carry on from one trustee to the next, to the next, to the next.

22many · Dec 22, 2012

I remember the 1994 ban. Only reason why is I was at a gun shop buying a Remington 270 and seen a Chinese ak47 on the wall with the banner that said "get them while you can". I remember thinking how I should ditch the 270 for the ak but decided against it. One of the worst decisions that I made. Anyways, yeah, the rifles were grandfathered in.

wayoutwest · Dec 23, 2012

Also something keep in mind with a new ban, the original was written by CA. Senator Diane Feinstein, IIRC, Californias assault weapons ban Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Senate Bill 23 Assault Weapon Characteristics | State of California - Department of Justice - Kamala D. Harris Attorney General required the registration of the firearm to the owner, they could be only be transfered out of state, they could not be sold in state and re-registered, as the registration period was closed. If the original owner passed away, pretty sure they needed to be removed from the state or turned over to the state.

I would expect any new federal laws to follow along these lines.